Transfer and inverter machine

Abstract

A machine is positioned in the line of a gypsum board manufacture to provide lifting arms, which are actuated up through the line to remove board sections, invert and transfer them to an adjacent area for subsequent drying. The lifting arms are reciprocated, end for end, during the elevating and inverting action to subsequently approach the board from beneath. The lifting arms are actuated through slider boxes, attached to a shaft, and a cam is provided to control the ends of the lifting arms, as each end is pivoted at the inverter shaft to which its slider box is attached.

This invention having been disclosed, what is claimed is: 
     
       1. A machine with which to invert a body with a thin flat configuration including, a set of live rolls arranged in parallel and in a single plane on which rests a thin flat body requiring inversion,   an inverter shaft extending at a right angle to the set of live rolls and spaced from one end of the live rolls,   a series of slider boxes spaced along the shaft opposite selected spaces between the live rolls and keyed to the shaft at these positions to turn with the shaft,   a lifting arm extended through each slider box wherein each lifting arm includes two beams held in parallel by end pieces to engage its box through rollers mounted in the box and arranged to reciprocate end for end through its slider box as the boxes are rotated with the shaft,   a series of cams extending and arranged beneath the live rolls and inverter shaft with the arrangement for each cam to alternately receive the ends of the lifting arms as the inverter shaft rotates and guide and control its arm in its reciprocation through the slider box with the result that the lifting arms pivot at the inverter shaft to elevate the thin flat body from the live rolls and transfer it to a station laterally adjacent the live rolls,   and a set of receiving arms positioned to receive the thin flat body and lover it to the transfer station.   
     
     
       2. The machine of claim 1 wherein: each cam is shaped to maintain a constant relation between the end of its lifting arm and the inverter shaft as the lifting arm is pivoted through the arc, which will invert the flat body and then slide the lifting   
     
     
       3. The machine of claim 1, wherein: the receiving arms are pivoted from the inverter shaft by means of linkage with a hydraulic cylinder which pivots the receiving arms to meet the lifting arms and receive the inverted body and then lower the received body to a conveyor system.   
     
     
       4. An inverting machine for flat sheets or relatively thin material, including, a flat sheet of relatively thin material positioned in a first horizontal plane,   a shaft extended in a first horizontal plane adjacent the flat sheet, means for rotating the shaft in a direction away from the upper surface of the flat sheet,   at least one slider box fixed on the shaft to rotate therewith,   an elongated arm journaled through the slider box and engaging the slider box through rollers mounted in the slider box to reciprocate end for end in the slider box as the shaft is rotated,   a cam structure fixed beneath the first horizontal plane and shaped and arranged to alternately receive the ends of the elongated arm as each end extends from its slider box to cause the lifting arm to pivot from the shaft through a pre-determined angle and subsequently slide through its box and bring its alternate end into engagement with the cam structure and repeat the cycle as the shaft rotates, and   a catcher arm pivoted from the shaft through an angle complimental to the angle through which the lifting arm pivots to receive the flat sheet and deliver it to a second horizontal plane laterally removed from the first horizontal plane,   wherein the sheet of material is elevated by the lifting arm through the pre-determined angle and at least one catcher arm is pivoted at the shaft from the second horizontal plane through the angle complemental to the pre-determined angle of the lifting arm to receive the inverted sheet of material and subsequently lower it to the second horizontal plane.